In accordance with the preliminary proposal of the Resolution of the City Council of 31st December 1958, the Institute of National History of the City of Bratislava was established. The institute associated four centres: The City Museum of Bratislava, the City Gallery, the Regional Library and the Municipal Heritage Centre. In the 1959-1961 period, the works of art from the collections of the City Museum were transferred to the City Gallery. The City Gallery was founded as an independent municipal cultural and educational institution on 1st January 1961. The history of its collection dates back to the nineteenth century, when the City Museum was established in 1868 on the initiative of the Society of Beautifying the City.
Private collecting had an old tradition in Bratislava. Its origin is associated with the Governor of Hungary, Prince Albert of Saxony and Teschen. His magnificent collection of prints by international artists at Bratislava Castle, transferred to Vienna in 1794, became the core of the famous Albertina. Apart from his collection, a number of aristocratic and burgher families from Bratislava were also engaged in collecting. The noblemen included Ján Pálffy, František Török, Karol Nyáry and Emil Mirbach who bequeathed his collection to the city in his last will during the Second World War. The well-known collections of burghers belonged to Hübner, Eder, Lafranconi, Stampfel, Scherc and others. Many works of art from these collections were purchased or donated to the City Museum.
In 1883, the sculptor Viktor Tilgner donated a collection of his works to his native town. This gift stimulated the establishment of an art gallery within the City Museum. In the twentieth century, the museum began purchasing works of art from the artists associated in the Kunstverein Society. After the Second World War, many confiscated works of art were included in the collection.
Naturally, the newly established City Gallery, currently known as Bratislava City Gallery, continues its acquisition policy, however, under different conditions.
After the Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava City Gallery is the second major institution of this kind in Slovakia. Its main activities include permanent exhibitions of parts of an immense art collection (its depositories house more than 35.000 works of art) and temporary exhibitions showing valuable works of Slovak and international art ranging from the Gothic period to the contemporary trends in visual arts. The plan of exhibitions and their staging in two historic buildings in the very centre of Bratislava attracts an increasing number of visitors. The gallery also organises many activities of intermedia nature and of other fields of art. The gallery promotes Slovak art abroad and in the last decade it staged many exhibitions in various countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.
Thanks to its restoration and conservation studios, the gallery has succeeded in preserving many precious works of Slovak cultural heritage. It is to the credit of our professional team of curators and the Public Relations officers that these genuine works have been shown to the public. After a longer period, the gallery again began purchasing works of art with the aim to preserve the values of visual arts for the future generations.
